Have you ever thought it should be easier than it is, I've got some secrets I'm willing to share on how to make your activities easier.

stop

In the last two years my hands have changed shape, one of the many changes that have taken place within my body during my Alexander Technique Teacher Training. I’ve also become more bendy, that’s not my bones becoming flexible but my flex and extension range in my joints have increased; not bad for someone nearing state pensionable age.
If nothing else, this is a great reason for practicing the Alexander Technique.
But there is much more.
My hands, my hands, are far more sensing that they have ever been. It’s a skill, sensation that is available to all. It just needs time, patience and practicing my mind-body connection and just allowing the senses to work without interruption. The last two years I’ve been trying too hard to be good, it just doesn’t work, it just blocks senses, tightens inappropriate muscles, just doesn’t allow thing to be things.

Discovering that nothing is to be done, we have the capacity and skill within us, all takes time to realise and accept. The realisation is easy to grasp, it’s the acceptance that nothing is to be done is very difficult and even elusive; acceptance flies around like a butterfly, the more you try to catch it the more it moves, being still and waiting it may land near you and you can observe it’s beauty, Try to catch it again and it’s off.

listening hands, just being quiet and observing by touch, there’s an awful lot of information to pick up and I guess my listening will improve with more practice

directing hands, giving my hands an intension with just a thought to move, with my hands on somebody and they will react to the intension and they will, say, stand up from sitting on a chair. For a newby this is just fantastic.

My perpetual pupil, my wife, gave me a back handed compliment by saying one day, will you please stop directing when you hold my hand. I didn’t know she could tell, i was so pleased 🙂

This week I’ve had and still do have a stinking cold, enough to stay at home and miss a few days at work, but not enough to miss my Alexander Teacher Training; how wrong was I!

On Friday I decided to attend but just receive any helping hands to be worked on, it was great, my symptoms dissipated, I guess the cold was pulling me down and the teachers and fellow students work got my directions going up again, I thought I was over the cold.

So yesterday, time for school again, I forgot Friday’s decision to receive but instead worked on my teachers and a couple students. I was like working with brain full of cottonwool; AT and a brain full of cottonwool just don’t mix.

I should have stopped working with my fellow students

I should have stopped working with my teachers

I should have stopped going to school for the day

I should have staying in bed!

The moral to the tale is to listen to my body and not push on regardless it just doesn’t work.

My 2nd February has probably lasted as long as Phil Connors, the synopsis IMDb > Groundhog Day (1993) > Synopsis recons Phil’s was around 10 years; i may be still be in my Groundhog Day loop how knows.

My 6am call wasn’t Sonny & Cher singing “I got you babe” but me knocking on my Alexander teachers door for another lesson, the lessons are now a blur but they seemed to be repetitive initially as I was learning to stop, though I was probably told to stop, I didn’t take the instructions in, neither did I stop. Rather like Phil’s suicide attempts then his 6am alarm again/ my knocking on the door again and again.

I then realised that I had to do something about something, it was time to understand something but what?

Stopping seemed to be a good idea, but I only paused really, I know that now but I thought I was really stopping. There’s a bit difference between stopping and pausing, when I stop I have a choice to do something else, with a pause I was just waiting to continue the same old thing, just like pausing a video.

Choices, choices, choices, is the name of the game: once you understand that is what life is about then you can live. Watching your favourite soap in TV is not a choice, it’s a habit thats stealing your time.

Understanding about choices isn’t the same as doing the choices, you need to be the choices.

Phil’s went through this realisation, finding out what Rita liked and loved and he became the expert in them; Jazz piano, French, ice sculpturing, but Rita still didn’t want him. He gave up with trying and became himself, and in response became the most beloved man in town, and in the morning it’s the 3rd of February and Rita is by his side planning to live together.

I had my first realisation of non-doing and stopping a few weeks ago, the difficulty is doing the non-doing, its so hard not to do and allow. Not doing and allowing is such a wonderful place to be in

The moral of the movie is to be honest and love yourself and then people will respond to you and may even love you back. Rather like the Alexander Technique.